George Russell was left to rue a \u201cfrustrating\u201d Japanese Grand Prix, with the Briton feeling that his result \u201cprobably would have been a race win\u201d had it not been for the Safety Car emerging only one lap after he made a pit stop.<\/p>\n
After both Mercedes<\/a> cars suffered a difficult start to the race and each dropped positions, Russell<\/a> worked his way forwards again in the laps that followed, eventually going on to challenge McLaren<\/a>\u2019s Oscar Piastri<\/a> for the lead.<\/p>\n While his attempted overtake did not work out, the Briton remained in P2 before visiting the pits, bringing him back out on track in fifth place.<\/p>\n But just moments later, a crash<\/a> for Haas<\/a>\u2019 Ollie Bearman<\/a> resulted in the Safety Car being deployed, meaning that team mate Kimi Antonelli<\/a> \u2013 who had provisionally been running in the lead, having not yet pitted \u2013 could make his stop and re-emerge in P1. The timing left Russell audibly frustrated over the team radio.<\/p>\n From there onwards Antonelli built a strong lead and took his second consecutive victory<\/a>, a result that also gave him the lead in the Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/a>. Russell, meanwhile, slipped back to fourth at the restart after being overtaken by Ferrari<\/a>\u2019s Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, before appearing to briefly slow shortly afterwards and losing another position to the other Scuderia car of Charles Leclerc<\/a>.<\/p>\n While both he and Leclerc later passed Hamilton, Russell\u2019s attempts to snatch the final spot on the podium from Leclerc did not prove fruitful, leaving the Mercedes driver to cross the line in fourth place.<\/p>\n Asked afterwards about the fact that nothing seemed to go his way on race day at Suzuka, Russell conceded: \u201cNo. If it had been one lap difference, then it probably would have been a race win. That\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n The 28-year-old went on to detail the multitude of things that had gone against him along with the timing of the Safety Car.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything that could go wrong, did go wrong,\u201d he explained. \u201cObviously we both made bad starts \u2013 mine was slightly less bad; Safety Car timing; [at the] restart, I got a harvest limit which meant I couldn\u2019t recharge my battery, similar to what\u2019s happened with some drivers at the race starts.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no battery to restart \u2013 Lewis passed me \u2013 and then I faced another battery problem when Charles passed me. As I said, one lap different and we\u2019d be having probably a very different conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n